


my son is dating an intergalactic supervillain

by extrastellar



Series: SuperBatFam [13]
Category: Batman Beyond, DCU, Superman - All Media Types
Genre: A for effort Bruce, Batfamily (DCU), Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, M/M, Protective Parent Bruce Wayne, Secret Relationship, in this house we support build-your-own-canon, ish, it's freckled half-shaved head black suited lor zod, or well he tries, superbatfam, they're two separate people here, this lor zod is not blond pure hearted baby chris kent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23646355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extrastellar/pseuds/extrastellar
Summary: Bruce, deciding to be a good dad™, gives Terry a spontaneous visit. He does not expect to have the door to his son's apartment opened by the boxer-clad son of Dru-Zod.
Relationships: Terry McGinnis & Bruce Wayne, Terry McGinnis/Lor-Zod
Series: SuperBatFam [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1259030
Comments: 10
Kudos: 88





	my son is dating an intergalactic supervillain

**Author's Note:**

> Rare Pairs! Crack Pairs! Love 'em!

Bruce was not having empty nest syndrome, no matter what Clark and Alfred were saying. Was it weird that the manor had fallen silent again after the last of their children had moved out to go their own, separate ways, with even Helena away for college now? Yes, but Bruce was handling it well. They still had Sunday brunches even if not everyone could make it all the time. And Bruce’s kids had started moving out a long time ago, starting with Dick over 20 years ago.

Bruce sighed. He was getting old. His _children_ were getting old. Baby Helena was all the way down in Texas for college, Matt was already a dad, Dick was in his early _forties,_ and his oldest grandchild Mar’i was taking her final high school exams already.

Bruce decidedly ignored the pinch in his chest at that thought and glanced at his phone screen. The address was correct, but he hadn’t expected Terry to live in this rather run-down part of Gotham. “Closer to the action, B!”, he’d probably reason. Bruce wrinkled his nose and turned his collar up more. It was better if no one saw Bruce Wayne here.

He pressed the door open (unlocked – clear security hazard) and decided to take the stairs rather than the suspicious looking and smelling lift. Terry lived on the top floor, so it took a while and Bruce cursed his ceding stamina with age. He didn’t patrol quite as often anymore, Cass mostly taking over Batman duties by now, supported by her siblings and nieces and nephews. Gotham was in good hands, but Bruce still got itchy sitting in the cave and working the comms with Babs and Toby, her new protégé.

Bruce huffed when he finally reached the top floor. Compared to the rest of the building, this floor looked pretty decent and clean and Terry’s seemed to be the only flat up here. Bruce’s lips curled into a tiny smile.

So why was he visiting Terry? Definitely not because of empty nest syndrome. He happened to have been in his son’s neighbourhood for a charity press event of Wayne Enterprises there. And what it he had been missing his son a little? What was wrong with a spontaneous visit to check in on him?

Bruce rang the doorbell. Terry was sure to be home, his job at Wayne Enterprises was limited to weekdays only. Not everyone was a workaholic like Bruce, Tim and Damian, as Terry always made sure to tell them.

The door opened and Bruce was immediately on high-alert.

A pair of hazel eyes morphed from narrowed suspicion to wide surprise.

Bruce immediately grabbed where his utility belt sat most of the time, to the compartment where he kept Kryptonite, but his fingers only clutched suit jacket and pristine ironed shirt. _Shit._ He moved into a defensive stance and cursed himself for not carrying Kryptonite on him at all times, even if Clark always got pissed about it.

“Lor-Zod”, Bruce growled.

Because standing in his son’s doorway was Dru-Zod’s son, Chris’ biological younger brother. It was unmistakably him, with the half-shaved head and the “Z” shorn on the shaved side. Even if he was wearing boxer shorts and a t-shirt and nothing else.

Lor blinked at him and then said, softly, but with feeling, completely mirroring Bruce’s unspoken sentiment: “Fuck.”

Bruce touched the comm in his ear. “Alfred, we have a code black, I need Clark here asap –”

“Bruce!” Terry came barrelling into the entryway, shoving Lor-Zod aside. “This isn’t an ambush!”

Bruce didn’t take his finger off the comm. “Are you alright, Terry?”

Terry nodded furiously and pushed Lor back into the apartment. “I am, seriously. Don’t call Big Blue. I can explain this. Not in danger.”

Bruce scowled.

“ _Sir?”,_ Alfred asked in his ear.

“It’s fine”, Bruce said through clenched teeth. “For now. Standby.”

“ _Of course, Master Bruce._ ”

Bruce took his finger off the comm and his scowl deepened. “I’m looking forward to your explanation of this.”

* * *

Bruce sat on his son’s leather couch and listened to him whisper-shout at Lor-Zod in the kitchen.

“Why didn’t you check who was at the door first!”

“He was at the _door_ , not down at the entrance, we don’t have a cam intercom here!”

“Are you kidding me? We have a spyhole and you have _x-ray vision!_ No intercom, are you serious?!”

“Rao, Terry, calm your tits! It’s just your dad!”

“I can very well hear you”, Bruce said.

Mumbled swearing from the kitchen and Terry came out, in a similar state of dress as Lor-Zod, and wearing an expression of both sheepishness and panic.

“Terry”, Bruce said and gave a pointed look at the armchair opposite him, his legs and arms both crossed. “Explanation. Now.”

“Er”, Terry started, scratching his cheek. “Lor’s my roommate!”

Bruce wanted to sigh until he ran out of breath at how bad a liar his son was.

“Y’know, the housing market in Gotham… it’s crazy! Basically impossible to get by without a roommate, phew. And beggars can’t be choosers, right?”, Terry rambled on. Bruce gave him an unimpressed look.

“Gotham has some of the lowest rents of the country because this city is a crime ridden dump, Terence”, Bruce said. “You have a Wayne Enterprises job and I know I pay all employees well. You have inheritance from Warren, too. And this is a one-bedroom apartment. Try again, preferably with the truth.”

Terry was visibly starting to sweat.

“It’s cos we’re havin’ sex!”, Lor called from the kitchen and Bruce felt a vein throb at his temple.

This was not happening. His son was not sleeping with Krypton’s tyrant general’s son.

“Uh”, Terry said, now stiff as a board and smiling nervously. “What he said.”

“So am I understanding this correctly”, Bruce said icily, fingers linking together in front of his chest. “You and Lor-Zod are a couple.”

Terry floundered. “Well –”

“ _Terence._ ”

Terry gulped and hung his head, defeated. “Yeah. We are.”

Bruce did not let up. Something this huge had somehow gone completely past him and he was not going to have it. Not when it concerned his children. “How long?”

“Not that long!”, Terry said hastily.

“Seven months next week!”, Lor called and Bruce almost felt pity for him when Terry glared at him.

Bruce had to close his eyes. He did not even have heat vision and yet he felt like he would incinerate his son with his gaze if he opened them.

“Seven months”, he repeated. “You have been dating the son of an intergalactic supervillain, who by all means has quite a villainous record himself, for seven months without confiding in anyone.”

“I told Chris and Jon and Billy!”, Terry said. “And Babs found out on her own. And I guess Lana Lang knows too.”

Bruce raised his eyebrows. Lana was not that involved with the Kent-Wayne clan (or SuperBatFam, as the kids referred to it in private), so why would Terry tell _her_ , of all people? “Lana?”

“My mom”, Lor said and came into the living room, carrying a sandwich.

Bruce arched an eyebrow even further. “Ursa is –”

“ – my birth mother”, Lor finished and shrugged. “Had some shit experiences with my birth parents and ended up taking a nosedive out of space thanks to ‘em. Lana took me in and taught me, adopted me. I’m Loren Lang, at your service, I suppose.”

Bruce’s frown deepened impossibly more. Lana Lang had adopted Lor-Zod’s son? Well, she was surely capable of training him, seeing as she was Superwoman, but how come he had not heard of this? How come Clark had not heard of it?

“Paperwork’s not through yet, calm your cowl, Bats”, Lor said. Bruce’s head snapped up at the casual address using his night-time moniker. Lor noticed and rolled his eyes. “Terry didn’t tell me. I have x-ray vision, old man.”

“Right, _now_ you have x-ray vision again”, Terry grumbled and Lor rolled his eyes again.

“I was _tired_ ”, he emphasised. “Didn’t really get a lot of sleep last night and that’s your fault, so take responsibility and stop blaming me, that shit takes some concentration.”

That was enough. Bruce did not need to know about his son’s night-time adventures with the son of one of Clark’s worst enemies. He had not wanted to throttle a kid this much since Helena was in her Terrible Twos.

“<Lor-Zod>”, he said in Kryptonese through clenched teeth. “<This is between me and my son. Stay out of this.>”

“Kryptonese? Really? C’mon, B”, Terry complained.

Lor sighed. “<Don’t make a big deal outta this. And your accent is so thick, did Kal-El teach you nothing?>”

Bruce really wanted to break his one imperative rule right then and there. To be fair, Clark hadn’t grown up with Kryptonese either – Chris and Kara were their only native speakers. And Lor-Zod, apparently.

“<Leave>”, he growled.

“ _< Leave>_”, Lor corrected, a shit-eating grin on his face. Even Terry understood what was happening and hid his face in his hands.

“Terry”, Bruce said brusquely. “You’re coming to the manor with me. Now.”

“What!” Terry shot up. “Why?”

“It is impossible to talk about this unbiased here”, Bruce said, shooting a sharp look at Lor in the kitchen doorway, munching on a sandwich. “And I’m sure Clark is looking forward to your explanation as well.”

Terry moaned. “No, B, c’mon, if the guys catch wind of this, I won’t hear the end of it!”

“Your siblings would surely like a talk as well. We should establish a video conference.”

“No, B!” Terry waved his arms. “I have a bet with Jason that I’m not clapping any alien cheeks!”

Bruce froze and Lor nearly choked on his sandwich.

“Tough luck, you broke that rule plenty”, Lor said once he had gotten the food out of his windpipe.

Terry shrugged sheepishly. “Oops.”

Bruce rose. “Terry. Now.”

Terry sighed and rose from the armchair. “Fine. Can I get changed?”

“You better.”

* * *

The ride to the manor was quiet, but not in a comfortable way. Terry was fidgeting in his seat and Bruce was sure he’d have to schedule an appointment with his dentist from how much he was grinding his teeth.

He had not heard of Lor-Zod crashing out of space and apparently getting into Dru-Zod’s bad graces. He had not heard of Lana Lang taking the youngest son of Krypton in. And he had certainly not heard of Lor-Zod moving into Gotham and sleeping with his son.

Bruce hated not knowing things and this was truly taking the cake.

“B”, Terry said. “Sorry for not telling you.”

“A sorry is not enough here”, Bruce said harshly.

Terry threw up his hands in helplessness. “What do you want me to say, huh? I’m not gonna break up with him.”

“You should”, Bruce said. “He is a villain –”

“Like we don’t have any reformed villains in the family!” Terry glared at him. “Bran’s with _Inertia._ Duke’s with Claire, she had a run as a villain for a short time too. Superman Zero is part of the family too! And Jason’s vest isn’t all that white either, and neither are Damian’s and Cass’! Fuck, Laney committed genocide in an alternate universe!”

“Enough!”, Bruce snapped and narrowed a sharp look at his son. “Thaddeus Allen has proven himself to The Flash. Claire was severely impacted by her brother’s loss and drug withdrawals at the time. Superman Zero was victim of an entity beyond our understanding. Jason does what Batman cannot. Damian and Cass have long redeemed themselves, they were abused children, Terry. And Laney was brainwashed by Harvest and it was _an alternate universe._ Dru-Zod and his family have committed atrocities since forever, just ask Chris.”

“Why can you let all of them redeem themselves, but the idea that Lor’s changed is impossible just because of his parents!”, Terry snapped back, blue eyes burning with anger. “Man, Damian, Cass, Laney and Thad all had crappy parents that manipulated and abused them! They get a free pass and Lor doesn’t? What the fuck!”

“Language!”, Bruce snarled. “Lor-Zod has done nothing to assure me he has changed – ”

“Like you’d let him!”

“I would, given the opportunity to know _what’s happening in my own son’s life!”_

Terry reared back, eyes wide. “What?”

Bruce bit his tongue. Great.

“B, are you mad because I hid it from you?”, Terry asked carefully.

“Lor-Zod is an intergalactic threat”, Bruce said brusquely, eyes directed to the window on his side of the backseat. “I do not want those in Gotham.”

Terry groaned. “B. C’mon. You know exactly why I hid my relationship with Lor from you. Cause you would have blown up. Also, the bet with Jason. I’m serious, if I lose, I gotta give him fifty bucks.”

Bruce grunted. “Peanuts for both of you. Jason charges 150k for his smallest calibre jobs and you get a Wayne wage.”

“Yeah, but what about my dignity?” Terry leant back in the car, arms crossed behind his head as the limo rolled over the bridge towards the Wayne estate. He sighed. “Bruce. I reacted pretty much the same way when I ran into him in Kansas.”

“Why were you in Kansas?”

“Visiting Dami and Jon, obviously.”

“Right.”

“Anyway”, Terry continued. “Lana kind of stopped me from kryptoniting him and explained how Lor’s been basically hurled down to earth by his bio dad. He wasn’t in good shape, B, he definitely fought Dru-Zod before being chucked into Lana’s cornfield.”

Bruce grunted to signal he was still listening.

“And, uh, he kinda got attached to me, I guess”, Terry went on and rubbed the back of his neck. He kind of helped me out around Blüdhaven because he knows if _you_ saw him in Gotham, or Clark in Metropolis, things would go south real quick. I think you probably heard of him either way, he calls himself Phantom.”

Bruce scowled. He had indeed heard of Phantom, a presumed metahuman seen in Blüdhaven. He wore black and dark grey and a domino mask and hood, making it impossible to properly ID him. Bruce had not even considered the possibility of Phantom being a Kryptonian – not with the domino mask. Phantom had not used heat vision or cold breath either, key Kryptonian indicators, only flight, super strength and speed, all not unusual superpowers. Stupid.

“And, uh”, Terry said. “We kinda started patrolling the Blüd together. And got closer. And the rest, you can probably piece together.”

Bruce harrumphed. “He is not on your lease.”

“You checked my lease?”

“I check all of my kids’ leases.”

“Not schway”, Terry said. “He’s not paying rent. Yet. I keep telling him to pick up his slack but he fucks up all his interviews. I’m tryna getting him a bouncer job or something.”

Bruce wrinkled his nose. “I see.”

Terry nudged him with his elbow. “B? Sorry for not telling you.”

Bruce only grunted in response. The limo came to a stop in front of the manor.

“So…”, Terry started with a sheepish grin. “Can we cancel the interrogation? I really wanna keep my twenty bucks.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Oh, c’mon!”


End file.
